NRL chief predicts “train crash” as brutal but honest review of English rugby league’s future given

Peter V’landys, the chairman of the Australian Rugby League Commission, has given an honest and open verdict on the future of English rugby league, and it’s not very promising.

As part of the current Ashes series taking place in England, V’landys and NRL CEO Andrew Abdo have flown over to talk to both Super League clubs and competition stakeholders about the future of the game.

There has been talk of a potential takeover from the NRL across the year, with Wigan Warriors and Warrington Wolves’ game in Las Vegas kicking off discussions over a potential change in ownership. The Australian competition reportedly wanted to purchase a 33% stake in Super League, but that would only happen if they could take on full administrative control.

Now, V’landys has shared the current status of those proposed talks, and in an interview with BBC Sport has given his brutal, but fair, assessment on the future of rugby league in the UK.

The ARLC Chairman, whilst confirming that nothing had been put in place as of yet, discussed the potential of an NRL-involved English competition, and it is something that they would be interested in, pending some changes to the current set-up.

“We could,” he said, when asked if investing in Super League was viable. “That’s an option if that’s what they want us to do.

“There has to be structural corporate governance change for that to happen. You need an independent body to operate the competition, and that’s one of the reasons Australia has been so successful in rugby league.”

Currently, all major decisions, like the vote to increase the competition to 14 teams, are made by clubs, and not the governing body. V’landys believes that the current way of running the game is detrimental going forward, with self-interest always going to play a factor in key outcomes.

Asked about what a potential stake could look like, he replied: “We’ve got an open mind. As I said, it’s not so much the stake, it’s the corporate governance structure. It’s making sure that it’s independent, all decisions are made for best interest of the game as a whole.”

He continued: “They’ve got the greatest game in the world. They’ve got the product, it’s how they market it and sell it and get a new audience, how they get the next generation of audiences that’s the challenge for them.

“If you’ve got the product, then the world’s your oyster. It’s up to them to then sell their products, but as I said earlier, they haven’t got the structure right at the moment. To be able to take the product forward.”

V’landys believes the fact that both Toulouse Olympique and York Knights will get less funding than the other 12 teams in the league, then their is already disparity before a ball has even been kicked.

He said: “You have to look at the overall financial viability, and the way that it’s structured at the moment, where they’re don’t get their full payment for the players and some clubs are going to get half of what other clubs are getting, so it’s an unequal playing field for the next two teams.

“So, for me, it’s the financial viability. How long can some of these owners sustain losses. There’s certainly been some positives. Their attendances have improved. The ratings have improved. But, you’ve also got to have a very strong financial base and that’s not there at the moment.

“We will be acting to ensure that English rugby league is financially viable, financially strong, attracts a new, younger generational audience, and keeps moving forward.”

NRL boss “concerned” over the future of English rugby league as NRL Europe discussed

Super League’s current broadcast deal runs up until the end of 2026, and whilst ratings and viewing figures have improved, the decision to move to 14 teams means that one extra game per week will either need to be shown by Sky, which costs them more money, or shown elsewhere.

V’Landys thinks that without an improved TV deal, with whoever that may be, there could be a disastrous downfall in the UK game.

“I’d be concerned,” he said. “At the moment, all we’ve done is analyse the financial viability and I could see a train crash if they [Super League] doesn’t get the broadcast revenue to sustain a 14 team competition.

“It all comes back to the finances. Eventually, people will stop wanting to put money in their pockets and sustain losses. That is what they’re going to be doing in the short term unless they can increase the revenue from broadcast.”

Whilst talks have focused on the NRL investing in Super League as a whole, there has also been chatter that the Australian competition want to form a brand-new league, and would invite current Super League clubs to join.

‘NRL Europe’ would mean that teams leave the current UK rugby league structure, and be under the governance of the NRL, with their current structure seemingly a lot more appetising than the current RFL set-up.

However, those talks were quashed by V’Landys, who said that his and the NRL’s only interest was to see the current Super League model developed to become more sustainable:

He said: “No. For us, it’s philosophical. We want England to be strong. If we’re going to have a global game, you need England to be as strong as possible. We don’t want to see them wilt. We want to see them succeed.

“That’s the only interest we have in being here is because we want them strong. It would be against our best interests if they do run into a train crash, because we want them strong.”

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